Some interesting new findings....
--
[log in to unmask] (Liza May)
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Wyatt, K., Dimmock, P., et al. 1999. Efficacy of
vitamin B-6 in the treatment of premenstrual syndrome:
Systematic review. Br. Med. J. 318(7195):1375-1381.

A review of nine published trials indicated that vitamin B6
supplements of 50-100 mg/day are likely to alleviate symptoms of
premenstrual syndrome. But existing data are of such poor quality that
the researchers hedged their conclusions and called for more rigorous
evaluation of the vitamin's putative benefit. The study found the
response was not dose dependent, and consumption of more than 200
mg/day of B6 can cause neurological problems.

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Uitdehaag, J.C.M., Mosi, R., Kalk, K.H. et al.
1999. X-ray structures along the reaction pathway of
cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase elucidate catalysis in the
alpha-amylase family. Nature Struct. Biol. 6(5):432-436.

The alpha-amylase enzymes break down starch and other carbohydrates.
This helps animals break down stored food, and it helps animal cells
communicate. New structural work yielded clues as to how the enzyme
catalyzes its reaction. Researchers compared the structures of the
enzyme alone or with a substrate-lookalike molecule caught in its
active site. The slight differences between the two structures told
them that all the amino acids at the enzyme's active site work
together
during the reaction.

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Soulsby, C. and Morgan, M. 1999. Dietary management of hepatic
encephalopathy in cirrhotic patients: survey of current practice in
United Kingdom. Br. Med. J. 318(7195):1391.

Since the 1950s, patients whose seriously failing livers cause
mental and neuromuscular problems have been fed diets that are low in
protein. Yet there is no evidence that such diets have any clinical
benefit. In fact, recent evidence has shown that patients with
cirrhosis
need more protein than normal. In 1997, it was recommended that
protein
restriction be abandoned. However, a survey of 64 dietetic departments
throughout the United Kingdom showed that almost three-quarters of
patients with cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy are still being fed
diets that are low in protein.

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Coghlan, A. 1999. Poison patent alarms aid charity. New Sci.
162(2187).

A British company has a patent that would permit it to put one of
the world's most lethal poisons into plants. Zeneca, Britain's
largest agricultural biotech company, has a patent that will allow
it to put the venom of the Australian funnel web spider into
plants. Apparently, the goal is to develop insecticides that are
more effective. ActionAid, a British development charity that
published
details of the patent, said the patent will do no good for subsistence
farmers and could be dangerous. Zeneca says it will not put the venom
in
plants, and the patent will be used to make sure no one else does
either.